^1 



Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



665 



POSING FOR THE CINEMATO- 

 GRAPH SHOW. 



" Dramatic art ? Bah 1 Anybody can stand up and 

 make faces in front of a camera I " This is a dramatic 

 critic's opinion, but is also a popular impression of the 

 art of posing for the production of photo-plays. And 

 yet, says Lida Evandel, in the Moving Picture News, 

 even if this were the only qualification, many prominent 

 actors could not pass the test, for they depend for their 

 success larsrely on a magnetic personality and a pleasing 

 voice, both of which, unfortunately, are lost to the 

 camera. E.xperience and ability, however, far from 

 being the whole equipment necessary for the photo- 

 play actor, are only the starting point : — 



In addition, the director wants to know if he c.in ride well, 

 not only in approved city style, but also in Wild West fashion ; 

 can he swim, dance, skate on ice and rollers ? Is he a good 

 swordsman, pugilist, sailor? Can he row a boat, run an auto- 

 mobile, and has he a license as a chauffeur ? 'I'he very latest 

 demand is that he be an aviator, in case he has to elope with 

 the heroine in an aeroplane, licsides the requirements of the 

 director, if he is a wise man he will have his life heavily insured 

 before he joins the mob of a moving-picture company. 



Acting for the moving-picture play is often no tame 

 studio alTair. with faked-iip properties, but is done in 

 a natural outdoor settin;:, luid is full of vivid and 

 dangerous realism, often involving injuries and some- 

 times death for the actor.s. 



In a rescue-from-drowning scene, enacted near New- 

 York during the past yeur, the would-be rescuer was 

 himself drowned. .Mother fatal accident resulted 

 when an attempt was jnade to run a train so close to 

 the intended victim a^ to give the appearance of 

 actually running over him. 



Rarely do dummies take the place of live actors, 

 even in the most dangerous positions. So that when 

 you see a man in a moving-picture hanging over a 

 crevice in an iceberg, or almost buried in a snowdrift, 

 you can depend upon its being realistic drama, and 

 that some actor has been kept in cold storage for some 

 time to enable the camera to record the scene. 



In a regular theatrical production, many rehearsals 

 can be had before presenting the finished production 

 to the publir. In a picture play, however, after the 

 director has shouted " Action ! " the camera begins to 

 record faithfully whatever passes before it. Some 

 scenes may be omitted from the final play, but none 

 can be changed. Often a single little inrirlcnt will spoil 

 an entire scene and necessitate its re-cnaclion at a cost 

 of hundreds of dollars. In one play some of the less 

 experienced people in the company stopped to look at 

 the camera to see if they were in the picture. The whole 

 scene had to be done over. In another production there 

 was a mob in front of a building. A man stuck his head 

 out of the second-story window, without iieing seen by 

 the director or operator. The finished picture revealed 

 a man's face laughing at the moii, and 300 people had 

 to Ijc rc-a.ssembled at the same place and the pictures 

 taken all over again. 



As a profession, posing for moving pictures offers 

 advantages not possessed by the " legitimate " drama. 



There is work the year round, and opportunity for 

 home life for the actors. Husbands and wives may find 

 employment in the same company ; and there is 

 usually work for a number of children also. The voung 

 girls need not travel alone and unprotected, nor work 

 late hours, and there is no constant appearance before 

 the public. The wages are good. 



But if a person is willing to work while he waits, if 

 he does not mind going without a dinner now and then, 

 if he does not object to being a target for amateur 

 shots, if he has nine lives like a cat and always alights 

 on his feet when he falls, if he doesn't care for the 

 bumps and bruises along the way, he may climb to the 

 top of the ladder of moving-picture fame, and live to a 

 ripe old age, to relate to his children and grandchildren 

 how many narrow escapes he had from the verj- jaws 

 of death. 



ISTAXATION THE ONLY WAY 

 OF REFORM :- 



Mr. Richard Higcs, writing in the Socialist Revieio 

 for June, raises this question. He laments that taxation 

 is overrated as a means of social amelioration. All the 

 efforts of modern reformers to relieve or remove 

 poverty are summed up in the one word — taxation. 

 Taxation, Mr. Higgs insists, is no remedy. He argues : — 



The organisation of industry, and especially the organisation 

 of the vital productive trades, is the altern.ative to taxation. 

 Either the people must be organised to produce their own food, 

 clothing and shelter in publicly owned and managed establish- 

 liienls, or else the levelling process must come about by means 

 of some form of heavy taxation of the wealthy classes. 

 Orgaru.sed production of necessities for use by the producers can 

 easily be brought about by means of State and municipal farms, 

 factories and workshops ; it will produce commodities instead 

 of revenue, and after a little financial bt.arting it will finance 

 itself, and eventually cause tax collecting to become one of the 

 lost arts. 



Mr. Higgs would begin his organised production by 

 providing for the needs of those who are employed hv 

 the Government, national or local : — 



Is it an impossible task to nationalise sufficient farms, fishing 

 fliets and factories to provide for the needs of Slate and 

 municipal employees, and so make a start by bringing a part, 

 and that the lowest, of the consuming public outside the region 

 of finance ? 



The organisation of industry for consumption by those for 

 whom the .Stale now proviilcs is a levellingup process, leaving 

 the wealthy in the enjoyment of their wealtii, and providing by 

 production for those who have nothing. Taxation is a Icveliinij 

 down process, taking from the rich for the <|ueslionable benefit 

 of the poor. Organised production would excite but a minimum 

 of hostility on the part of the mo^l powerful section of the 

 community, and would largely secure its active co-operation, 

 while taxation is the line of greatest resistance. Organisation 

 appeals to the Ixrst, the liumanil.irian and constructive side of 

 the people, while taxation by touching ofttiuics hard-earned 

 profits arouses all the evil passion-, engendered by many years of 

 prolit-sccking industry. Ort;:ini>.-ition is a clearly-cut, simple 

 jirojccl, and has nothing wlialcvcr to do with the mysterious 

 jargon nflccted by professors of finance. It recognise;, thai the 

 only cure for starvation is food, the only cure for raggcdness is 

 clothts, the only cure for homt■lc^^nc»J is homes, and the only 

 cure for poverty is wealth, and those very real and tangible 

 things it produces in a «.iy that even the most ignorant can 

 understand. 



